China to Invest Over US$11 Billion in its Water Resources Infrastructure

China will continue to invest heavily in the agriculture sector to ensure food security, with 70 billion yuan ($11.27 billion) being allocated to water resource infrastructure, a spokesman for the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said Wednesday. The total volume and proportion of investment for agriculture in 2014 will be greater than in 2013, said NDRC spokesman Li Pumin at a press conference in Beijing Wednesday. This means that over half of the 457.6 billion yuan from the central budget will go into agriculture, Li noted…Full Article: The Global Times Mar 2014

Key point

According to the NDRC, the financing will be used to boost the country’s irrigation base, improve its levee system for small and medium-sized rivers, and develop water diversion projects

ChinaAg Comments

In 2010, Chinese land under irrigation surpassed 60 million hectares for the first time ever. According to the FAO, China has an irrigation potential of 70 million hectares.

In 2011, Henan province led China with 5.1 million hectares of land under irrigation, or roughly 8% of total irrigated land. Shandong and Hebei provinces followed suit with 4.9 million and 4.5 million hectares under irrigation. Heilongjiang province had 4.3 million hectares under irrigation (7% of China’s irrigated land). All remaining provinces and regions had under 4 million hectares of land under irrigation.